Gustavus “Gus” R. Ide Jr.

U.S. Navy 1942–1946

With a degree in engineering, Gustavus (Gus) Ide enlisted in the Navy as an ensign in 1942. After months of indoctrination, Gus was assigned to the USS Glennon (DD-620 Destroyer). Duties for the Glennon were initially to escort tankers to Gibraltar and Algiers from Texas. In 1943, the Glennon escorted convoys between Sicily and North Africa and then back to the states. When the USS Murphy was hit, the Glennon, under the leadership of Captain Clifford A. Johnson, took survivors back to New York. Gus talks about the search and rescue of a merchant marine, and his duties as an officer when the Glennon was sunk off Utah Beach on the Normandy coast by a German mine. After the war, Gus made it a point to research the whereabouts of 25 of his crew.

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